^OURNM-:
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Garden
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VOL. LVIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, JULY 11, 1903.
NO. 28
XxperUuce ^jepartmetit
HOW TO MAKE A GOOD f ARM GATE.
Set the Mala Pott ia Cement.
lst Premium.—A good solid farm gate is
not only a pleasure to the farmer, but is
a good investment, compared with the
loose, rickety, dragging old gate sometimes
found. What tries the patience of the
farmer, his son, or hand, more than to
drive up to that old gate some frosty
morning, where it has lieen dragged round
on the ground until it has worn a channel
in the ground sonic two or three Inches
deep, and the rain and the snow have
filled it up, and old  Boreas has sealed  it
have your slats iu Ilu* two iniirtiseal posts.
cut a Couple aaf slats tell inches longer thnn
yuur end posts nnd place them on aaih
side of the slats in the center of the gate,
letting them extend above the gate. Bolt
them through each other slat, and above
the uppi*r slat till in with a piece of slat
to make the top solid. Now put on yaaur
braces, double. Let them extend from
the bottom of each post, and meet at the
top of the center slats. Cut a slight
notch at top and bottom, and cut to lit well,
and bolt them well, nnd you will have a
gate that the thoughtless boy cannot swag
by an occasional ride. Dress and paint
the material Ix.'fore it is put together.
and  if you  are  not  ready  to  hang  it  to
you can am-lioi- your gale .alien open,
anal n.at leave it to swing at the mor.-.v aaf
tli«- winds.        This fate should  last yi.u '20
years with proper care. Look after the
pins and bolts. I_*et it shut insiile of tin-
posts, against a strip wa*ll spikoal on,
an*l tin* wind iaiin.it wriggle it to ■ wreck.
If your horses are Inclined to push against
the gate, put an extra latch pin near tin*
top. I.  N.  C.
Marion Co.
Ell til Piecei Together Tightly
I'd Premium.—The maintenance of gates
upon the farm is an important ita*in. an*]
t*> make and  bang a  good, durable and
reliable   gate   requires   soma'  knowledge
as abore described, s.-ven slats to the
^.ila*. naila*.! the slats to the piece, nailed
a piece ovar the slats to this end piasce,
nailed cross piece at middle of gate, and
(wo cross pieces at far end of slats, (one
00 either siale), using six-penny nails. We
put a brace from bottom of gate at end
piiK-<- taa top of gate at middle cross piece,
.■im! from bottom of middle cross pi*?ce
I.a the taap of far ciiai of slats, using four
nails at each crossing of slats. All the
cross pieces and laraea's were same size as
slates, anal the nails were well clinch.il.
ThoSo (rates are very light, but are strong,
durable ami not dragging the ground and
llius tearing them to pieces. The end
pieces extend about three Inchea above the
Wheat  harvest  at  Moose Jaw, Assiniboia, Canada.
over, and the gate is fast? You must
either go to the barn for an ax to get
it loose, or tear down the (fence to get
around it. No wonder the boy is inclined
to leave the farm. But this subject
does not call for prose or poetry on the
rickety old gate, but how to make and
hang a good gate.
The first thing is to get your material,
and season it well. I prefer good white
oak, but if that is not available take
some other hard timber. The slats should
be clear of knots, so that they are not
easily broken, for they will often be tried
by stock and otherwise. The rear post,
or the post that the hinges are attached
to, should be three inches square, and
the front post two by three, for I am going to have you mortise the slats into the
posts. The slats should be one by three
inches.
Now, do not make your gate too high,
for a gate that is above the fence, or
mnch above, is an unsightly thing, and
stock will not jump a gate more readily
than a fence. To be minute: Cut the
first mortise one inch from the bottom
and make the first space between slats
two and one-half inches; the second three
inches; third, five; fourth, seven; fifth,
ten; sixth, twelve inches. This gives you
six slats, with a gate fifty-eight inches
high. The width of the gate depends on
what you use it for. To the woodland
where only wood is to be hauled and stock
tnrned through, ten feet is wide enough;
but where hay and grain in the straw is
to be hauled, nnd machinery moved
through, I prefer twelve feet. Now a
twelve-foot gate must be well braced, or
it will be limber and wabbly, so, after yon
the post, hang it up on some pins, where it
will keep straight.
Next comes the posts, to hang to and
shut to. They should be of the most
lasting timber available, mulberry, black
locust,   catalpa,   cedar,   white   oak. It
used to be a custom to get out posts from
14 to 15 inches square. That is a waste
of timber. A large stick of timber does
not last longer than a smaller one. Take
a stick six or eight inches square. Set
the post you hang to four and a half or
five feet in the ground, in a hole three
feet square, and fill in around it with
concrete or broke stone or gravel and
cement, well tamped and you will have
a post that will be able to resist a good
deal of temptation in the way of side
pressure and will preserve the wood better than dirt. The post you shut to
should be three feet in the ground. Plumb
the post you hang to, and put down a two
by ten joist on the groimal between the
posts, fitting close against the post at each
end, which will make a good stay, and,
with a few loads of gravel to level up, you
can hang your gate high enough to clear
the ground and still keep the pigs out.
Now if you will give those posts a good
coat of crude coal oil, with some cheap
paint, every few years, they will last much
longer.
Well, now we are ready to hang the
gate. Get tho size of the post in the
gate and the one you hang to, through
diagonally, and have yonr hinges made of
proper length, hook and eye, with nuts, so
you can take up any droop in the gate by
turning a lap.
Make any kind of a latch that suits your
convenience.       Place a post back where
of the principles Involved.
Take a good, sound piece of oak timber,
3x4 inches or 21/_x.'?, for the end of the
gate next the hanging post. Lay the oak
piece down flatwise, ami mark the places
where you want the slats put on. Saw
notches on the top siale of this fence, as it
lies at on the scaffold where you work,
making the notches wider at the si.la* of
the piece next the hanging post, but make
the bottom side of the notch on the square,
putting all the slope on the top side of
the slat, say one-half slope. Or, as the
carpenter terms it, "dove tail" the slat
into the end piece. Cut into the slat
from the bottom si.le, and on tho square, *4
to ■(*_ inches, to form a stiff support for
the slat. Make the slat to fit iuto the
notch very tightly. Make the notch just
deep enough to receive the slat. Pound
them all into the notches and nail well. I
will just say that, for the ordinary farmer
who is not accustomed to making close
joints by measurements, the easy way to
make these slats fit is to cut the dove tail
on the slat, lay the slats on the end piece
just where you want them, and mark for
each slat just as you have cut the slat.
Number each slat, take them all off of
the piece, and saw the notches according
to the marks, but be careful to saw just
insiile the mark, or your pieces will not
be tight. The finishing of the gate is
a matter of taste, for if this foundation
has been properly laid, you may have a
good gate; if not, it may be otherwise.
This work on the farm should be done
on rainy days. On one rainy day the
farm hand and myself made five gates.
We used 2x3 oak for end piece, %x3 red
elm for slats, put the slats into end piece
top slat, and the center cross piece about
8 or 10 inches and if the horses are inclined to look over the gate occasionally
just stretch a barbed wire real tight to
the top of these pieces.
The manner of setting the hanging post
depends upon its size. We have used
oak. We have no timber, but buy the
tops of trees fgrom the timber men for a
very small amount, and hew our hanging
posts from the forks and rough pieces of
this timber. They last well. Some of
them are very large and require consider-
alala* time to make them ready to set, and
it is quite a job to put therji four feet or
more into the ground, which we believe
is necessary, and then they are well
tamped. Small posts should be set even
deeped than this, with an anchor piece
near the bottom and top of the hole. We
should never slight the setting of a hanging gate post or the end post to a wire
fence. Use any gootl hinge, but we prefer
bolting the hinges to the gate, and using
a wood screw in the posts. Be sure the
bit for making the hole is not too large.
Hancock *Co. V. P.
Make the Cita Swing Outward ud I'pwtrd.
3d Premium.—To make a good, substantial farm gate, I take good oak lumber,
1x3, 12 feet long. Bight of them will
make a gate four feet high, not counting
the upright pieces, which will be two at
each end and one in the center. Then
tnke a piece one inch thick and three
inches wide and run diagonally across the
gate from one corner of the gate to the
other.      I  use  No.   10  nails,   and  clinch
Continued on page 9, Column 4.